"The ban is a lot of expense for townships and cities," said Dunham, a Waterford resident who owns a Labrador-boxer mix dog.

"We want to remove the ban and replace it with a Responsible Pet Owner ordinance."

Dunham's proposal includes steps to replace the ban.

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"Every dog in Waterford would have to be spayed or neutered unless they were in a certified breeding or show program," she said.

All animals would be microchipped. If a dog bites or shows aggression, it would have to be temperament-tested.

"If the dog goes through the program and is certified, it can stay in the township," said Dunham.

Supervisor Gary Wall said township officials are still considering the legal aspects of the ban. No date for a vote has been established.

"We're encouraging people for and against to sit down with our township prosecutor Walt Bedell," said Wall. No specific decision on changes to the ban have been made.

Dunham has wanted to have the ban overturned since October 2011, when she received a ticket the township for having a pit bull.

"We knew our dog Keane had Labrador in him but we didn't know what else," she said.

A $170 DNA test showed the dog named Keane to be a Labrador-boxer mix.

"When we got those results, my house turned into a chaos of crying (for joy). It was such an emotional time," said Dunham, who with supporters, formed O.D.O.G.S. for Oakland County Dog Ownership Group and Specialists.

Attacks spurred ban

The history of Waterford's pit bull ban stretches back to a day in 1988 when Kathy Krajewski put her Airedale Felix on a chain out in the family's yard

Two pit bulls came over a frozen lake and first went after a neighbor, said Krajewski. She escaped and then the dogs went into Krajewski's back yard.

They tore into the Airedale and then they came after Krajewski, she said.

"My left thumb and right arm were ripped apart," she said. "I still have a huge scar but I was more hurt emotionally. The hardest part was watching them rip apart my dog."

A police officer came to the scene and shot the two pit bulls, she said.

While helping to bandage Krajewski, she recalled the officer saying, "'Unfortunately there is nothing we can do except give the owner a ticket. Somebody has to make it a law.' And that's what I did."

Krajewski and supporters worked for months with attorneys on the ban. The ordinance bans dogs meeting the breed standards established by the American Kennel Club for American Staffordshire Terriers or Staffordshire Bull Terriers. "It was very fair," she said, noting that people with pit bulls at the time were grandfathered in. The true banning of all pit bulls took effect in 2000.

Township Prosecutor Walt Bedell said he is frequently called by community officials from across the U.S. searching for details about the ban.

He added, "In my experience in the past five years, the number of pit bull case complaints has increased significantly."

Vaughn Wagner remembers the two pit bulls in the 1980s, Krajewski's incident and the time when the ban went into place.

"We were very lucky that those of us with children had nothing happen to them," said Wagner, a retiree who spoke to keep the ban at the Jan. 28 board meeting.

"I don't think should be overturned."

Other communities have variations of the ban. Sylvan Lake passed a vicious dog ordinance in September 2010 that includes breed-specific language banning future pit bulls from locating to Sylvan Lake. Then-Mayor Aron Lorenz said the ban discussion began when there appeared to be a proliferation of pit bulls coming into neighborhoods.

"We also had heard about stories of attacks in Waterford," said Lorenz. One example took place in March 2010 when two pit bulls who had cornered an elderly couple and then charged a Waterford police officer were shot by the officer.

"We took immediate action," said Lorenz, referring to passing the ban. "We got more positive feedback from that than we have ever received on any resolution we have handled."

Rochester Hills originally considered a ban on pit bulls in 2010 but wound up passing a dangerous dogs ordinance in 2011 that requires owners of dangerous dogs to carry a minimum level of liability insurance.

A person deemed to be the owner of a "dangerous dog" must register the animal. One of the requirements to obtain a registration certificate is proof the owner has at least $250,000 in liability insurance coverage that covers animal bites.

In Florida's Miami-Dade County last August, a group called the Miami Coalition Against Breed-Specific Legislation failed to get the county's pit bull ban overturned in an election.